Many Americans older than 70 survived the Great Depression, and despite being immigrants without connections, trust funds or a fancy education, they built themselves a significant nest egg while providing their children and grandchildren with the education and advantages they never had.

After returning from a week in Southern California, where I traveled from Apple Valley to Ontario to Anaheim to Beverly Hills and Santa Monica and talked with hundreds of investors, business owners and “real people,” I have reached a simple conclusion.

Yesterday, I watching CNBC 's Fast Money show. I enjoy this show because it is usually very informative and I recommend it more than business school for understanding and learning about how the stock market works. However, every now and then someone with little or no qualifications gets on the set.

In this supposed “lost century,” where the Dow Jones Industrial Average is about the same as it was 13 years ago, my personal stock portfolio has compounded at almost 20 percent annually. How could that be when most stocks in that span are either lower or even?